


before i dive right into you

by thebitterlesbian



Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: F/F, First Kiss, and erin hears it, holtzmann can sing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-11
Updated: 2017-03-11
Packaged: 2018-10-02 19:23:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10225334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thebitterlesbian/pseuds/thebitterlesbian
Summary: Erin goes back to the firehouse at 11:00 on a Friday and hears Holtzmann singing upstairs.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a prompt from scients on Tumblr in which Erin discovers Holtz has a beautiful singing voice! The song used is Ed Sheeran's 'Dive' from his new album.

“ _Fuck_ ,” Erin hisses, running her hands through her hair. She can feel how close she is to finally nailing down the equation that’s been tugging at her mind for a full day, but the papers that would give her the last few steps she needs aren’t on her desk or in her bag or in her apartment anywhere. She repeats the profanity, louder this time, cursing herself for being so distracted earlier that afternoon.

She thinks back to how she’d been gathering all her materials together at the end of a long day that was the end of an even longer week. She hadn’t been able to fit everything into her bag so she made her way from her desk with an armful of papers. As soon as she rounded the door towards the stairs, Holtzmann had run headlong into her, showering them both with complicated-looking equations and symbols. The blonde had quickly helped her shove the papers back into a pile and Erin set off for home again, trying to convince herself that her heart was racing because she’d just been nearly flattened, not because it had been Holtzmann doing the flattening.

 Erin groans out loud as she stands up from her desk and her eyes dart towards the clock on the wall. It’s already 10:45, but she feels like she could still work for a few hours. A battle starts in her mind. The excitement of finally cracking the equation and solving the problem clamors over the rational part of her that’s telling her to go to bed and tackle the numbers in the morning, and barely a minute passes before she heaves a sigh and starts gathering books and papers. If she’s going back to the firehouse, she may as well just get as much done as she can while she’s there.

She shoves her books and papers back into her bag and switches on her coffeepot. While it brews, she slips out of her pajamas and into a pair of jeans and a sweater. She runs her fingers through her hair and waits until her coffee is finished, then pours it into a mug and slings her bag over her shoulder.

The air is cool around her as she steps onto the sidewalk. It’s 11:00 on a Friday night and bodies press around her as she walks to the firehouse. It’s not a long walk but she’s bumped and jostled countless times, and her patience is running thin when she finally detaches herself from the crowded main sidewalk and turns towards the firehouse.

There is a light shining from the windows of the second-floor lab. Erin bites back a groan, knowing that the lights mean Holtzmann either hasn’t left yet or has also returned to work. Since their first meeting, the blonde has had a way of getting under Erin’s skin and into her head. Although repeated exposure had lessened the effects somewhat, Holtzmann could still draw Erin’s attention away from whatever she was doing, and completely drain her of any motivation to look at anything but the engineer.

Erin weighs her options and is halfway turned back towards the main street to walk home when she hears music trickling from somewhere above her. It’s not a song she recognizes, and she can’t make out the words, but the sound holds her in her place. She casts her eyes around her, trying to find the source of the sound, but the only windows lit are the ones on the second floor of the firehouse.

She stares and squints before realizing the windows to the lab are open. Although she still can’t make out any words, the song sounds soft and sad. She has one hand flat on the firehouse door, the other on the handle, before she even knows she’s moved.

The song fades out, but Erin can’t tell if it’s over or if she’s just moved into a place where she can’t hear it. She turns the handle slowly, trying not to make any noise, and slips into the firehouse. She sets her bag and coffee mug softly on the ground as another song picks up. She doesn’t recognize the tune, which plays for a few seconds before the lyrics begin.

She places the voice easily, recognizing it as Holtzmann’s, but she’s never heard it sounding so low and beautiful and _raw_ as when it forms the words to the song.

_'Maybe I came on too strong_

_Maybe I waited too long_

_Maybe I played my cards wrong_

_Oh, just a little bit wrong_

_Baby, I apologize for it'_

Erin’s heart drops into her stomach as the words tumble down the stairs and over her ears. They draw her forward and she moves silently through the dark first floor, all thoughts of papers and equations and physics pushed from her mind. Holtzmann’s voice gets louder with each step.

_'I could fall or I could fly_

_Here in your airplane_

_I could live, I could die_

_Hanging on the words you say'_

The music picks up as she reaches the landing. She settles into the shadows next to the door and listens. Each word breaks over her body like water over a cliff, and she feels each new sound setting her soul on fire.

_'I’ve been known to give my all_

_And jumping in harder than_

_10,000 rocks on the lake'_

Shifting so that her shoulder is pressed against the doorframe, she peers into the lab. Her pulse picks up at the sight, thudding through her body as she continues to watch. She grips the doorframe with her hand, steadying herself as she feels her knees grow weak.

Holtzmann is standing at her table at the opposite end of the lab. Her hips are swaying gently in place, hands working effortlessly at one of the proton packs open on the table in front of her. Her back is to Erin but she can tell that the engineer isn’t looking at what she’s doing. Instead, her head tilts back as she belts out the next lines.

_'So don’t call me baby_

_Unless you mean it_

_Don’t tell me you need me_

_If you don’t believe it_

_So let me know the truth_

_Before I dive right into you'_

Holtzmann’s voice is low, and the words slide smoothly past her lips. It’s a side of the engineer Erin has never seen before, and she wonders if _anyone_ has really seen this Holtzmann before. The cool confidence, the control she had over her words and body, the smooth, sensual voice, the swaying movements – it’s so different from the blonde’s usual quirky charm.

_'You’re a mystery_

_I have travelled the world_

_And there’s no other girl like you_

_No one'_

The blonde sets the screwdriver she’s been twirling in her fingers down, then rests her palms on the table. Erin leans forward, still feeling the music pull her further in. Her body temperature shoots up with each word.

_'What’s your history?_

_Do you have a tendency to lead some people on?_

_‘Cause I heard you do'_

Erin steps into the lab, still moving silently. Her heartbeat is still pounding through her veins and she worries for a moment that the other woman might be able to hear it over her music. She walks directly into the center of the room.

_'I could fall or I could fly_

_Here in your airplane_

_Hanging on the words you say_

_I’ve been known to give my all_

_And lie awake, every day_

_Don’t know how much I can take'_

There’s a rough note to Holtzmann’s voice as she sings the verse, and Erin watches as her hands curl into fists. She’s almost close enough to reach out and brush the blonde’s shoulders, and she stops mid-step, falling back instead.

_'So don’t call me baby_

_Unless you mean it'_

A coherent thought pushes through Erin’s hazy mind for a moment, and she wonders if Holtzmann is singing about anyone in particular. The idea makes Erin’s heart sink, but her heartbeat races as Holtzmann continues to sing.

_'Don’t tell me you need me_

_If you don’t believe it'_

Passion still drips from each word, and the thought tugging at the back of Erin’s brain grows stronger even as she holds on to every word the blonde sings. Of course Holtzmann would be talking about someone in particular, another girl; the words were too emotional to just be singing.

_'So let me know the truth_

_Before I dive right into you'_

The music trickles from the speakers for a few seconds, but there are no words. Instead, Erin watches as Holtzmann continues to sway her hips back and forth. She holds her breath, knowing the engineer would hate to be caught like this.

Holtzmann picks up the screwdriver and prods at the wiring of the pack in front of her, but sets it back down as she takes a deep breath before the chorus slides past her lips again.

_'I could fall or I could fly_

_Here in your airplane_

_I could live, I could die_

_Hanging on the words you say'_

Erin sighs softly, barely biting back a moan at the sudden shift in Holtzmann’s voice. The blonde’s voice is more rough than it is smooth as she grips the edge of the table, leaning back slightly and tilting her head backward again.

_'I’ve been known to give my all_

_Sitting back, looking at_

_Every mess that I made'_

Holtzmann taps her fist lightly against the table with each word, punctuating the lyrics. Another rational part of Erin’s mind pokes through the haze, tugging her back towards the door and away from the lab before the song ends, but she stands still.

The blonde steps away from the table slightly, but rests her hands flat on the table again before pushing herself upwards, locking her elbows and holding her body there.

_'So don’t call me baby_

_Unless you mean it'_

Erin bites her lip, battle still raging in her mind about staying or leaving. She knows she should leave, but everything about the moment is rooting her to the spot. At the very least, she could pretend she hadn’t heard the _whole_ song, just the end.

_'Don’t tell me you need me_

_If you don’t believe it'_

Holtzmann shakes her head as she sings and Erin feels another spark of jealousy for whatever woman was behind the blonde’s passionate song.

_'Let me know the truth…'_

The words don’t stop but Holtzmann pauses, letting two lines pass before she joins in for the third. All the roughness is gone from her voice and it’s soft again, but with a hint of sadness that squeezes Erin’s heart.

_'Before I dive right into you'_

There are a few seconds of silence before the next song picks up, and Holtzmann’s voice wavers just past the music.

Erin feels the spell she’d been under as Holtzmann sang crack, then break, and she falls back to reality with a thud that actually knocks the air from her lungs.

“Wow,” she gasps out, jumping backwards as Holtzmann spins around on her heel and waves a screwdriver at the physicist.

“ _Shit_ , Erin, fuck!” Holtzmann’s face is a combination of surprise and embarrassment. “How long were you standing there?”

Erin feels her cheeks burning red and she runs a hand through her hair, stalling. “Um, not that long?”

Holtzmann lets out a groan, deflating back against the table. She lets the screwdriver drop from her fingers before burying her face in her hands.

“Holtzmann! Why are you upset? You have a beautiful voice!” Erin takes a step forward and wraps her fingers around the engineer’s wrists. She tries to gently pull them away, but Holtzmann struggles against her.

Holtzmann just groans again, the sound muffled by her hands.

“Holtzmann. Jillian Holtzmann, I am serious!” Erin exclaimed, finally succeeding in pulling the blonde’s hands down from her face. Holtzmann’s pale skin is still tinged pink and her eyes are wide. Erin thinks she can feel her hands shaking in Erin’s fingers.

“I just wasn’t expecting anyone to be there,” Holtzmann mutters, eyes fixed on a small burn mark on the floor.

“I’m sorry I snuck up on you,” Erin apologizes. “I came back for something to work on and heard your voice and was just…enchanted.”

Holtzmann’s eyes flick upwards to Erin’s face for a fraction of a moment before she casts them down to the floor again. The action was so fast that Erin thinks she may have imagined it.

Despite the blush rising to her cheeks again, Erin takes a deep breath and tries to lighten the mood. “You should try to sing for her.”

Holtzmann’s face burns red again and when she looks up at Erin, there’s a slight fear in her eyes. “What? Who?” Holtzmann shakes her head so violently pieces come loose from her elaborate bun.

“Please, Holtz. You can’t sing the way you just did if you’re not thinking about someone,” Erin laughs, trying to ignore the way her heart is squeezing painfully or the way everything sounds just a little bit too sharp and a little bit too loud.

“There….there’s--no,” Holtzmann responds, shaking her head again.

“Yeah, right, okay,” Erin rolls her eyes, feeling a little bit of anger that she knows is misplaced bubbling in her chest. She bites it back, knowing she’s upset because Holtzmann admitting she has feelings for someone else would help Erin get over her, and has no right to be upset at the blonde for any of that. “I bet she’d love you, if you’d sing for her the way I just heard you sing.”

Holtzmann pauses, then sighs. Erin watches as her lips form words, but no sound comes out.

“I didn’t quite catch that,” Erin says through a tight throat that makes it hard to spit the words out.

“But I just did,” Holtzmann says quietly, keeping her eyes fixed on the burn mark again. “I just sang for her, and she doesn’t love me. She doesn’t even _like_ me that way, because she’s straight. You’re straight.” The last sentence is barely a whisper, but the blonde raises sad eyes to meet Erin’s shocked ones.

“ _Me_?” The word falls from her lips gracelessly and hangs between them as Holtzmann nods slowly in response, not moving her eyes from Erin’s.

Erin sees a thousand unsaid things in Holtzmann’s clear blue eyes, and tries to respond with her own. She takes two steps forward until she’s only a few inches from the engineer. Her fingers reach towards where Holtzmann’s hands are resting on the table and the action brings her face even closer to the blonde’s.

The air catches in her lungs as the scent of the other woman’s perfume overwhelms her, making her dizzy. Her heartbeat vibrates through her body again, and she’s absolutely positive Holtzmann can hear it too.

She doesn’t know if she moves first or if the blonde does, but the moment their lips meet, the world grinds to a halt around her. The only things that matter are her and Holtzmann and the moment they’re in right then. The music quiets and the sounds of the lab and the city drifting through the open windows fade.

Erin loses track of time in the kiss, feeling Holtzmann’s hands shift from the table to her hips, pulling her in close. She wraps her arms around the blonde’s neck and sighs into the kiss. Electricity dances over her skin everywhere it’s against the other woman’s, and it feels like fire is pounding through her veins.

“Looks like maybe you aren’t so straight after all,” Holtzmann laughs breathlessly when they break apart to breathe deeply.

Erin rests her forehead against the engineer’s and stares into her blue eyes. The happiness she sees in them makes her heart skip a beat.

“Guess not,” Erin replies, letting out a small giggle. “But I told you the song would work.”

“You did,” Holtzmann nods, leaning in to kiss Erin again.

Neither woman gets much work done the rest of the night.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it! If you did or if you didn't, feel free to visit me on Tumblr (anothercaffeinatedlesbian) and let me know why!


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